"Obito, daijoubu ka?!" Minato used the Body Flicker Technique to rush over and check on Obito—and the One-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes.
A pile of shredded books lay at Obito's feet. He'd torn them up in a fit of rage just moments ago.
He'd bought an annual membership at Zhengyi's Gym, hadn't he?
Obito felt like he'd gotten a raw deal. He'd gone off to the battlefield, so how many days of his membership would go to waste? Wasn't Zhengyi making money off him for nothing?
So, the last time he left Zhengyi's Gym, he took a book from the front desk.
The contents of that book!
Bastard! Aaaagh!! Bastard!!!
It was about the true young master of the Uchiha Clan Head's family, who was switched at birth by a nanny. The nanny's son took the true young master's place. When they grew up, the fake young master still hadn't awakened his Sharingan, while the nanny's son—the real young master—was abused until he awakened a One-Tomoe Sharingan.
Only then did the clan head realize that the babies had been switched. He secretly brought the real young master back into the family.
Why did he do it in secret? Because the clan head and his wife had grown deeply attached to the fake young master. They were afraid that if his identity came out, his classmates would bully him at the Ninja Academy.
The rest of the plot was as messed up as it got!
The fake young master bullied the real young master in every possible way.
The clan head and his wife showed the fake young master all kinds of favoritism. Even the real young master's fiancée took the fake young master's side.
In the end... the fake young master developed heart disease, and the real young master was the only suitable donor. That beast of a Uchiha Clan Head used the Sharingan to control the real young master and sacrificed him.
Obito had thought there'd be a twist or something.
But... in the finale, the fake young master married the fiancée in accordance with the real young master's dying wish. They lived happily together as a family, and even named their child after the real young master to honor him.
???
By then, Obito still hadn't awakened his Sharingan. He'd just seen the next volume: a handsome transfer student suddenly arrived at the Ninja Academy, and my childhood friend fell hopelessly in love with him.
In the finale, the handsome student and the protagonist were both kidnapped. The kidnappers must've been brain-dead, because they forced the childhood friend to choose between them: only one could live.
The childhood friend chose to save the handsome student.
The protagonist chose to let the two of them be together and killed himself.
That awful sense of identification!!
And out came the One-Tomoe Sharingan.
After hearing what had made Obito awaken his Sharingan, Minato, Kakashi, and Rin didn't know what to say.
All because of a book?
"Don't doubt me! Damn it, if I hadn't just torn it up, I would've shown you, sensei. Sensei, tell me—what would you do if Kushina fell in love with someone else while she was at school?" Kakashi's contemptuous look had taken all the joy out of Obito's Sharingan awakening, so he hurried to explain.
"Yikes." Minato imagined it for a moment. If Kushina fell in love with someone else? He might as well be dead.
"Kakashi, Obito does have a point," Minato said with an awkward laugh. He was very much on Obito's side.
"Meaningless emotions. All they do is make us lose ourselves and our money. We get nothing out of them." At this point in his life, Kakashi could make anyone who heard him want to die with a single remark.
Orochimaru quite agreed with Kakashi. Emotions were the most boring things in the world.
He'd read Obito's book before.
It was rather interesting. That very book had prompted him to make this decision.
Meanwhile, the book's author was heartbroken over his masterpiece. He'd spent all night writing it! He'd only shown it to Orochimaru-sensei, and now it was gone?
Zhengyi felt like he was about to fall apart along with the book.
To keep Rin alive, he could only resort to such underhanded methods.
One of the Konoha High Command's decisions was downright absurd: sending the Uchiha Clan, who excelled at Fire Release, to Kirigakure to fight the Mist Ninja, who excelled at Water Release.
In theory, as long as the Uchiha's firepower was strong enough, Kirigakure wouldn't have a chance to take Rin.
Question: How could the Uchiha quickly boost their firepower?
Answer: Awaken their Sharingan.
And so this book had come into being.
It had worked like a charm. Obito had awakened his Sharingan as soon as he finished reading it.
Zhengyi figured his understanding of the Uchiha was about on par with the Second Hokage's.
Awakening the Uchiha's Sharingan was simply a matter of putting them under stress. The worse their emotional state, the more likely they were to awaken it.
The stories in this book—one about a switched-at-birth child and one about childhood friends being no match for a newcomer—clearly weren't comprehensive enough.
So Zhengyi still had a whole stack of stories to write whenever he had time.
Stories targeting brother-obsessed types, devoted romantics, and dutiful children... He had every kind of tearjerker from his previous life.
As for the Uchiha growing powerful and starting a rebellion...
His teacher's Impure World Reincarnation had something to say about that.
The atmosphere in the group was strange over the next few days.
When they reached the front lines near Iwagakure, Jiraiya, who was stationed there, was stunned. How had Orochimaru ended up traveling with Minato?
Inside the tent.
Jiraiya hadn't seen Orochimaru in a long time, so he suggested they have a meal together. Halfway through, he said:
"Orochimaru, if you do anything to threaten Konoha, I will..." Jiraiya dropped his usual carefree air. His expression was more serious than ever.
"What will you do?" Orochimaru sneered.
"Well, I was joking. You'd never do anything to threaten Konoha, would you?" Jiraiya burst out laughing. "Let's not talk about that. Eat, eat."
"Not necessarily. Maybe that's exactly what I want to do right now."
Jiraiya frowned, and so did Orochimaru.
"Heh, you sure know how to tell a joke, Orochimaru. You're still the same as you were when we were kids. Ah, well."
"Seems so, doesn't it, Jiraiya?"
Before long, the two looked at each other and laughed.
That night, Jiraiya called Minato over. "Orochimaru's targeting you. You need to be careful. Check anything you eat or use thoroughly."
"Yes!" Minato had an innate skill called Listen to Advice.
At the same time.
Orochimaru called Zhengyi over, took some Protein Powder from a Summoning Scroll, and told him to deliver it to Minato.
Orochimaru giving Minato Protein Powder?
How was that any different from a weasel wishing a chicken a happy new year?!
Then there was only one explanation.
"There's poison in it?!" Zhengyi's heart shot into his throat, pounding away.
Who wouldn't be nervous about poisoning the protagonist's father to death?
He wasn't nervous because he was afraid. He was excited! If Minato died, there'd be no Chronicles of Naruto in Konoha—only Chronicles of Orochimaru and Chronicles of Zhengyi.
With his most promising successor dead, Hiruzen Sarutobi would surely lose heart, and the Hokage Position would go to Orochimaru.
The position of Hokage would be his for the taking.
Sensei, you'd finally seen the light!
Orochimaru never lied. He'd dared to reveal his intentions while eating with Jiraiya just now, so he openly nodded. There really was poison in the Protein Powder.
"Yikes!" Seeing Orochimaru admit it, Zhengyi paced back and forth inside the tent, clutching the tub of Protein Powder, a thoughtful look on his face.
After a long while, he said:
"Sensei, I think we should do it this way."
Give the Protein Powder to Obito and have him offer Minato a drink. That would do it.
Before long, Obito would fake his own death.
With Minato dead and Obito gone too, the whole thing could only become one of Konoha's great unsolved mysteries. Hiruzen Sarutobi might guess they'd poisoned him, but would he have any proof?
Even if Obito came back later, by then everything would surely be settled. Sensei would already be Hokage, and the truth wouldn't matter.
As for whether Obito would drink it...
A while back, Kakashi had bought Protein Powder from him at an outrageous price. Obito stole some from Kakashi every day, figuring that every scoop he drank meant Kakashi drank less and got weaker!
So Obito probably wasn't hungry enough to drink this tub of Protein Powder.
Before you continue